Come Unto Christ in the Afton Wyoming Stake

08/30/2026

Growing up, I’ve always been very independent. I didn’t love asking for help, and honestly, I wasn’t very good at accepting it either.

My first big lesson in this came when I was pregnant with our second child. I was working 3–4 night shifts a week when depression began to hit me hard. I eventually reached a point where I thought the world might be better without me. It took a young, 19-year-old CNA caring enough to tell me that he thought I was depressed and that I needed help before I even recognized how deep I was in it.

Asking my midwife for help was one of the hardest things I had ever done. I had always considered myself a happy person, and I couldn’t understand how I, of all people, could have depression. I was terrified of having that label. Which was ridiculous because I took care of patients all the time with depression and I felt so strongly about the importance of mental health. But it was hard to accept it for myself.

During that time, so many people blessed me. I didn’t want the help, but people simply showed up—and I had to learn to accept it.

We lived in Boise, away from most of our family. My aunt, who knew nothing about what I was struggling with, called one day and said she was going to start bringing me a weekly meal. My mom and sister saw through my facade and drove five hours to clean my house and help me prepare for our new baby. Even though I would never let my visiting teachers into my home, they kept showing up just to say hello.

At the time, it was hard to feel grateful. I felt guilty for needing help. I felt like I should be strong enough to handle everything myself.

Years later, during COVID, I found myself in another difficult season. Being a nurse during that time brought out anxiety and fears I didn’t even realize I carried. Then, on top of everything else, I had to have an o***y removed because of a mass that could potentially be cancer. I had to wait nearly a month to see an oncologist, and the uncertainty and fear during that time were overwhelming. Once again, I found myself struggling mentally and feeling like I was barely holding it together.

But this time, something had changed in me.

People showed up to help in so many ways, and instead of fighting it, I welcomed their help with open arms. I was able to recognize God’s hand in the people He placed around me.

Both trials were difficult, but I learned that hard things become a little easier when we lovingly accept the help others are willing to give.

I believe God often answers our prayers through other people. He puts people in our paths who can carry us when we don’t have the strength to carry ourselves.

Sometimes we have to be willing to ask for help. And sometimes, we simply have to be willing to accept it. There is no shame in needing someone else to help carry us for a while. Sometimes, allowing others to serve us is part of God’s plan—not only for us, but for them too. ❤️

Denise Allred

08/23/2026

A few weeks ago, I participated in El Vaquero Loco, the mountain race on the Swift Creek to Cottonwood Lake trail. It was a hot day, and the race covered 19.5 miles with more than 5,000 feet of elevation gain—and I was only doing the shorter version!
There were hundreds of runners on the same narrow, single-track trail. As I made my way up the mountain, runners doing the longer distance were coming down. The trail winds through beautiful, lush vegetation—grass, wildflowers, trees, rocks, and streams—and in many places, there simply isn’t room for two people to pass.
That meant that hundreds of times throughout the race, either I had to step off the trail to let another runner pass, or someone else stepped aside for me.
This year, the Afton Wyoming Stake has been focusing on the two great commandments: Love God and Love your neighbor. As I ran, I started paying attention to how people treated one another during all of these brief interactions.
Every runner was exerting themselves. Everyone was tired and hot. Everyone was focused on completing a difficult race over many challenging miles and rugged terrain.
And yet, what stood out to me was just how courteous, kind, friendly, and encouraging people were to one another.
Hundreds of times I heard things like:
“Excuse me.”�“You go first.”�“Thank you!”�“Good job!”�“Nice work!”�“You’re doing great!”
Those simple expressions were repeated by people all along the trail—and they made such a difference.
As I ran, I had the thought: This is a simple but wonderful example of what it means to love your neighbor.
Loving our neighbor doesn’t always require something grand or extraordinary. Often, it happens in the small interactions of everyday life—making room for someone else, offering encouragement when they’re tired, showing patience when we’re tired ourselves, or simply choosing to be kind.
We may not always know how difficult the trail is for the person coming toward us. But we can always make their journey a little better by how we treat them.
Ronald Hahn

08/16/2026

It has been 27 years since I was sent home from my mission in disgrace. No homecoming party. Not a homecoming talk sharing my mission experience, or a gathering of family and friends. Instead, I was disfellowshipped and disgraced. I wore the scarlet letter for a time. Overnight, I went from teaching the gospel and sharing the Atonement of Christ with others, inviting them to return to Christ and take advantage of His ultimate sacrifice, to being the one who desperately needed the saving grace of Christ’s Atonement.

Since then, there hasn’t been a day that has gone by that I haven’t reflected on the events surrounding this critical juncture in my life. Today, I watch my oldest child put her mission papers in, and I once again find myself reflecting back on my own mission experience—where my greatest conversion was my own. There are no words that can actually do justice to the emotions that I felt in those early days after coming home from my mission. Since that day, I have spent a lot of time in the Book of Mormon, where I found strength in the familiar feelings Alma shared about his repentance story.

Alma 36:15–21
“15 Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.”

As I read Alma’s story, I remembered the things I had spent the better part of two years teaching other people. Alma shared his experience with repentance and the Atonement of Christ. I knew the way back. Knowing the way back seemed so much easier than actually finding my way back.

At first, I was gung-ho in my pursuit of repentance, but over time, my convictions were challenged and my mindset shifted. To survive this experience, a piece of who I was truly died inside. I felt more alone than ever before in my life. I found it easy to point out other people’s flaws and how other people could have handled my situation better. It would have been easy for me to become bitter toward others. There were members of the Church who did and said things that really hurt. It seemed easier to give up and walk away than to return.

Something inside of me knew that if I walked away from the gospel, I would never return. The hardest decision I have ever made was the decision to keep going to church. Deep down, I knew the impact of leaving the Church would have upon my posterity. I knew the Church was true, and I knew that if I walked away, I would be taking blessings away from my future children and grandchildren for generations.

As I struggled with how to move forward in the best possible way, I looked to Alma for strength. Alma found strength in his father’s teachings of Jesus Christ (Alma 36:17). As I read Alma’s account of repentance, it really struck me that these scriptures were in letters written to his children—Alma writing to his son Helaman.
Some of the greatest strength I was receiving was the advice a father was giving to his son. This was a true testament to me that I needed to find my way back, no matter what it took.

I will never impact the world like Alma, but someday my experience just might make a difference to my children. Depending on how my story ends will determine whether it is a positive impact or a negative one.

One thing is for sure: as parents, our testimonies can provide strength to our children. And now, 27 years later, I find myself on the other side of that experience. I could not be more proud of my daughter as she prepares to leave on her mission.
There is a part of me that wishes I could go back and finish what I started. But I have come to understand that the Lord’s plan for my life was bigger than the mission I thought I was supposed to complete.

My mission didn’t end when I came home. In many ways, it was just beginning. The years that followed became my real mission—a mission of repentance, forgiveness, healing, and learning to rely completely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

As my daughter leaves, I want her to know that I know Christ died for us, and it is only through His Atonement that any of us can return to live with Him. We all need the Atonement in our own way, but we all need it.

For me, the Atonement literally saved me from myself. It allowed me to repent and be forgiven so fully that my sins have been washed away, and I am a whole man. Alma shares how he was able to be forgiven and the great joy it brought.
Alma 36:21
“21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.”

The Atonement can bring these same blessings to all of us in our own way. The greatest conversion from my mission was myself. And perhaps that is what I hope my daughter will find on her mission—not just a stronger testimony of the gospel, but a deeper conversion to Jesus Christ. I know she has a strong testimony but living and teaching the gospel every day will strengthen it in ways that will change her life. My hope is that she will come home with more than stories of the people she taught. I hope she comes home knowing, more deeply than ever, the Savior who taught her how to love them.

I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that His Atonement is real. I know that no matter how far we may feel we have fallen, the way back to Him is always there. I know this because I have had to find that way myself. We can all find the sweetest joy if we take advantage of the Atonement of Jesus Christ on a regular basis. The greatest conversion from my mission was myself. And now, as I watch my daughter begin her own mission, I pray that hers will be her own as well.

Benjamin Goodson

08/09/2026

In 3 Nephi, after Jesus appeared to the Nephites and taught and ministered to them, He knew they did not want Him to leave. The multitude "did pray for that which they most desired"—the gift of the Holy Ghost (3 Nephi 19:9).
Learning to recognize the Holy Ghost has been a lifelong journey filled with both mistakes and tender mercies.
I still remember being a newly baptized eight-year-old, playing in my backyard, when I had the thought to check on my fish in a bowl in the garage. I brushed the thought aside. A couple of hours later, I found that the fish had jumped out of the bowl and died. It may seem like a small experience, but it has stayed with me.
Years later, as a newly married ministering sister, another sister in the ward came to my mind several times. I didn't know why, and I wasn't sure how to reach out, so I ignored the prompting. Weeks later, while we were visiting, she shared that she had been struggling through the anniversary of the death of her youngest sister, whom she loved dearly. I couldn't help but wonder if I had missed an opportunity to comfort her.
Thankfully, the Lord is patient with us. I've learned that even when I miss a prompting, He can use those experiences to teach me to recognize His voice more clearly the next time.
Not long after that, I had the impression to buy flowers for a sweet older sister in our ward. As I drove to her house, I suddenly felt prompted to take the flowers to another friend instead. This time, I listened. I questioned myself as I knocked on her door and no one answered. Feeling a little silly, I left the flowers on her doorstep and went on with my day.
Later that evening, she called to tell me she had experienced a devastating court hearing that day. The flowers had arrived at exactly the moment she needed the reminder that Heavenly Father knew her.
Alma teaches that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." I've found that small, consistent efforts to notice and follow promptings have strengthened my ability to recognize the Holy Ghost. Those little moments have become the foundation of some of the greatest blessings in my life.
Those of you who know me know that I'm an open book. So here is a chapter. In 2012, we had just welcomed our fourth child. We felt our family was complete, and we had taken permanent steps to make sure of it.
Then, within a month of that procedure, my husband had a dream. He saw a little girl with long brown hair standing on the stairs in our home. When he told me about it, he said, "I think there's one more child who is meant to come to our family."
The moment he said those words, the Holy Ghost quietly confirmed to me that it was true.
We decided to begin setting aside a few hundred dollars each month to save for a reversal procedure. Before we had even really begun saving, Eric received a bonus at work. The amount of the bonus was exactly what we needed for the surgery.
I immediately thought of Nephi's words:
"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth" (1 Nephi 3:7).
That experience strengthened my faith and deepened my trust in both my Father in Heaven and the guidance of the Holy Ghost.
It was that same faith and trust that carried us in 2020 when we packed up our family and moved from Oceanside, California, to Afton, Wyoming. We had never been to Afton. In fact, we had barely even heard of it. Yet we felt the Spirit directing us there. We left behind everything that was familiar and loved because we believed the Lord was preparing a way.
And He did.
Moving to Afton has been one of the most difficult experiences of my life, but it has also been one of the most rewarding. Time and again, the Lord has shown us that when we are willing to listen and follow, He truly prepares the way before us.
Like the Nephites, I am deeply grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know He speaks to us in quiet, simple ways. As we seek to recognize and follow His promptings, He will guide us exactly where the Lord needs us to be. I am grateful for His patience as I continue to learn to recognize His voice and for His loving guidance as He directs our family, one small prompting at a time.
Tammy Rivard

08/02/2026

In February 2020, my dad called to let me know that my Grandpa Preator was in the hospital with complications and would be undergoing surgery. My grandma had passed away a few years earlier due to complications from surgery, and after hearing the news about my grandpa, I felt an inconsolable grief, worry, and desperation to see him. The hospital was eight hours away, with many mountain passes in between and terrible weather.

My husband, David, came home from work, and I told him how I was feeling. Without skipping a beat, he said, "We're going—pack up, and we'll leave after school." We had a soul-filling weekend with a man who was such a big part of my life. We were able to be in his hospital room and spend precious time with him and other family members. He recovered and returned home.

At the time, we had no idea what was in store for us when the COVID-19 pandemic became a worldwide crisis just a few weeks later, bringing restrictions and isolation.

When all the pandemic craziness hit, I realized that God knew I would need to see my grandpa before he passed away, and He made it possible. From my parents letting me know how serious his condition was, to my husband dropping everything so we could go, to the hospital allowing us to spend so much time with him—every detail came together so I could say goodbye, at least for now.

I felt sadness but also peace when he passed away a few weeks later. I was so mindful that God knew my heart and my love for my sweet grandpa, and that being separated without that time together would have been very difficult for me. The scriptures promise that "the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ" (1 Corinthians 15), and "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psalm 30). I know there was joy when Grandpa was reunited with his daughter, his wife, and his parents, and for me, the sting of death has been softened with tender memories and the compassion of a loving Savior who has overcome the world and will bring about the resurrection of all.

Cheri Saltzman

07/26/2026

Since we were primary-aged kids, we’ve been taught that daily prayer and scripture study are foundational to our faith. Those two simple pillars are there to help up stay connected to God and to keep the Spirit in our daily life. As a child, they seemed simple and easy to do. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to find that those simple essential pillars of our faith can become lost in the complexities of life. It becomes easy to read a few verses to “check the box” for the day. After a long day, your pillow can seem more enticing than speaking with God. A little study and short prayers are better than none at all, but today I would like to testify of the power of focused, sincere scripture study and the power of the inspired Come Follow Me program.

A little while ago I found myself in a lull. My prayers and scripture study were very weak, and I was feeling the effects spiritually. I felt overwhelmed with the stresses of life, things that had no eternal significance seemed to occupy all my thoughts. I found it hard to focus on things that really matter. I knew that something had to change. As I allowed myself to slow down and talk to God, I was reminded of what my studies looked like on my mission. I had sincere daily study that was focused on the needs of others. I wrote down what I learned and made plans for the day. I felt I had to do something similar.

My Come Follow Me study usually consisted of scanning the questions in the guide, reading some of the verses and turning on a podcast to try and get an overview of what was happening in this week’s study. I knew that I had to go a little deeper. I got a notebook and opened up the guide for the week and wrote down the first question. I read the suggested verses and wrote down my answers in the notebook. I read the suggested General Conference talks and watched the videos and wrote down my thoughts. There is some power about reading and writing down your thoughts. I found that my mind was opened more, and I was able to understand more completely. I felt the Spirit working within me and giving me answers to my questions. I felt the comforting power of our Savior more fully in my life. My time commitment didn’t really change from what I was doing before, but I was using my time more productively. This type of study has been a huge blessing in my life. It has allowed me to be more open to the whisperings of the Spirit and has greatly affected my day-to-day life.

I know that the Come Follow Me program is given to us by a prophet of God and when we use it, we will receive the promised blessings in our lives. It gives us direction in a time when we seemed to be pulled in so many directions. If you are feeling the lull and need a spark in your life, I highly encourage you to get a notebook and dive into this week’s Come Follow Me. I promise that you will receive an increased portion of the Spirit and God will bless you for your efforts.

I know that this is His gospel and His work in the latter days. I know that He is aware of us and the complexities of our individual lives. Even the little things that have no eternal significance but loom large in our current lives are on His mind because they are important to us. He is reaching out His hand to give us hope and courage. I know that He lives and loves us more than we can comprehend.

Tyson Balls

07/19/2026

07/12/2026

“I know that life is hard. You can do hard with Jesus, or you can do hard alone. That is your choice. But when you do hard with Jesus Christ, the hard becomes holy.”
-Camille N. Johnson

Many times in my life, I have felt the weight of the world come crashing down on me. Moments that made me feel as if I was drowning and had no hope of coming up for air. Many years ago, I found myself lost in addiction and had a heart filled with immense guilt. There were times I felt as if I was alone in my sorrows and there was no one to save me. I even tried several times to overcome these hardships alone, but I never could. I was ready to give up. Everything changed the moment I chose to do hard with Jesus Christ instead of alone.

Choosing to turn to Jesus Christ has brought an indescribable amount of peace in my life. I now know that the atonement is real, and it is available to all who come unto Him. His hand is always extended out to us, we just have to be willing to grasp on. I have witnessed that there is no sorrow that cannot be healed through the power of the atonement.

I believe one of the greatest gifts that Heavenly Father has given to us is the ability to have a change of heart and to become new creatures in Him. This can be accomplished through the gift of repentance. I have learned that repentance is something to look forward to, it is not a punishment. The atonement gives us the ability to access the power of Jesus Christ each and every day.

If you currently feel like you are drowning in the sorrows of life, please know that you are not alone. You are loved more than you could ever imagine and you are never beyond the reach of Christ's love and healing power.

Andrea Johnson

06/28/2026

Elder Gong shared in our last conference, “No one sits alone, and no one should walk their road to Emmaus alone or unseen.”

With last week being Father’s Day, I found myself reflecting on a friend I will never forget. I remember sitting with her and her small children on the back row of church. She was wrestling with the kids, yet she always brought them and shared her light and testimony. We never know who might be having a difficult day, especially on days intended to be joyful.

As I thought about the opportunities we have to show love in small ways, I remembered giving her little boy a bubble toy during the sacrament. I saw him again this past Mother’s Day with his grandmother. It was a difficult day for their family, but she still had a smile and gave me a hug. While in her cart, the little boy said, “I remember you—the church lady who gave me a toy.”

I know if we never sit alone and walk with those in need we can all learn together and feel our Savior walking with us too!

Lisa Gillespie